Known throughout the world for his orchestral, chamber, piano, and vocal compositions, Makato Shinohara adds Western style to traditional Japanese music in his works, as evidenced in Cooperation (1990), which was written for an ensemble that combines instruments from both cultures. He composes for a wide variety of instruments, including oboe, piano, flute, harp, shakuhachi, and koto. First a student of Ikenouchi at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music (1952 - 1954), he then went to Europe to study with Messiaen, at the Paris Conservatory (1954 - 1959), Zimmermann and Michael Koenig, at the Cologne Hochschule für Musik (ca. 1962 - 1964), and with Stockhausen, at the Cologne Conservatory (1962 - 1965). After completing his education, he briefly taught at the University of Utrecht (1965 - 1966), then accepted a position at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Studio (1971 - 1972), and later worked as a professor of Japanese music at McGill University in Canada (1978). After frequently moving about during his studies and early work, Shinohara settled in the Netherlands in the late '70s and continues to teach and compose there. A recording of his Fragmente for recorder (1968) was made in 1993 and can be heard under the BIS label.